Halloween Horrors: THE MUMMY (1932)

THE MUMMY (1932)
Directed by Karl Feund
Starring Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Leonard Mudie, Arthur Byron
Not Rated (PG-level thematic elements and brief disturbing images).
SCAREmeter: 2/10
GOREmeter: 3.5/10
OVERALL: 2.5 out of 4 stars

THE MUMMY was the first original story of what became known as the Universal Monsters series, following the THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925), DRACULA (1931) and FRANKENSTEIN (1931).  Carl Laemmle, Jr., the Hollywood producer who spearheaded the production of most of Universal's most famous monster movies, desired to make an Egyptian-themed horror film inspired by the popular so-called "Curse of the Pharaohs," which occupied public attention when some involved with the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb died untimely deaths.
The film opens in the tomb of a cursed Ancient Egyptian priest, Imhotep (Boris Karloff), who had been mummified and buried alive with a curse of eternal damnation for blasphemously attempting to raise from the dead his forbidden lover, Princess Ankh-es-en-amon, a vestal virgin of the goddess, Isis.  Buried with him and sealed with a curse is the Scroll of Thoth, the scroll containing the spell with which Imhotep tried to raise the princess from the land of the dead.  The tomb is being studied and excavated by famed archeologist Sir Joseph Whemple (Arthur Byron), when one of his assistants foolishly reads a passage from the scroll, and the dried corpse of Imhotep wakes, takes the scroll and leaves the assistant in a fit of madness to die in a straightjacket, leaving the rest of the team in bewilderment.  Ten years later, Imhotep is wandering Cairo in disguise as a modern Egyptian, under the name Ardath Bay, arranging to raise Ankh-es-en-amon yet again, but first he requires that her tomb be excavated, a task which can only be fulfilled by foreigners, so he reveals its location to a team of hapless archeologist led by Sir Joseph's son, Frank Whemple (David Manners).
After the tomb is excavated, it's treasures are displayed in the Cairo Museum, where Imhotep begins the ritual of bringing his lover back to life, which includes bringing the reincarnated soul of Ankh-es-en-amon to her mummified body, but the woman who seems to fit the bill is Frank's romantic interest, Helen Grosvenor (Zita Johann).  To raise Ankh-es-en-amon from the land of the dead, Imhotep intends to kill Helen and resurrect her as the Ancient Egyptian princess.
Boris Karloff, credited as "KARLOFF," was fresh off of the hugely popular FRANKENSTEIN, in which he had not even been officially credited where his work as "The Monster" was atmospherically attributed to a question mark.  Now, as the freshest and biggest name in horror (quickly dethroning DRACULA-star Bela Lugosi), he was the main marketing point of THE MUMMY, with the posters emblazoned with "KARLOFF The Uncanny" in big block letters as big as the title itself.  Covered in makeup, designed by legendary artist Jack Pierce, who also did Karloff's iconic makeup as Frankenstein's Monster, he makes a surprisingly credible living mummy.  Although modeled after the mummified Seti I, it is commonly noted that he better resembled Ramesses III, with the most intensive makeup, involving the bandages in which Imhotep is buried, only appearing onscreen for a few minutes, and the rest of the film emulating a strong model of a 'less is more' philosophy. 
Outside of Karloff, who is granted a conveniently theatrical role, the rest of the acting is heavily corny by today's standards, and that just kind of comes with the territory of 1930s cinema.  THE MUMMY has some pulpy elements that work strongly to its favor, such as the model Egyptian pyramids that appear in the opening titles and some unusually dark moments for films of the time, such as the mirror pool sequence in which Imhotep is mummified alive and some Ancient Egyptian soldiers are speared bloodily.
Even while being held in slightly lesser esteem than heavyweights like FRANKENSTEIN and DRACULA, the extent of THE MUMMY's influence is evident in its lasting influence as an original monster, spawning a whole new traditional monster that's been revisited in over a dozen further films, despite never having a direct sequel of its own.